BEDA Comment May

Beda May

BEDA COMMENT

SMOKELESS ZONES

Operational, BEda comment, May 2007, COMMENTS

Like a good copper I’m always on BEDA duty - even when gawping at the telly in my living room! Over recent weeks whilst glued to the hugely entertaining cop nostalgia series, Life On Mars, my mind strayed to thoughts of the impending English smoking ban. I know there doesn’t seem like an obvious connection, but stick with me.

Watching Gene Hunt and his colleagues chain smoking in their local boozer, I was struck by how utterly different those times were. We like to think that on some levels things don’t change much, but actually they do. A few years ago (and I’m talking long after Life on Mars is set) a smoking ban across the UK would have been utterly inconceivable. Now, on 1 July 2007 the UK’s licensed premises will be smoke free.

The news from Wales, as I write, has thus far been broadly positive, but with a note of caution. The unseasonable good weather has undoubtedly brought people out - and many operators argue, quite rightly, that it could well be primarily the good weather and not the smoking ban which is causing people to be out in licensed premises in large numbers.

Positive but with a note of caution is how I also see the new BEDA initiative: Smokeless Zone. This joint BEDA/ALMR communications initiative aims to accentuate the positives which the smoking ban could produce. This is not to blithely accept that the ban is entirely positive, or that it won’t have some negative effects on some businesses, but more to recognise that the ban represents an opportunity as well as a threat.

Clearly the ban on one level provides a very real statement to those who rarely frequent licensed premises, that smoke free venues are now much more attractive places to go for non-smokers. The reason for this proactive initiative is to try to reach those potential customers and encourage them to spend some of their hard earned cash in clubs and bars after the ban.

Many in the industry continue to be rightly fearful of such a seismic shift in trading conditions the ban could engender, yet now we have the English ban in view it is crucial that we remain positive about the great entertainment which clubs and bars offer. I don’t believe for one minute that all the non-smokers who hate going home stinking of cigarette smoke will have an instant eureka moment and start frequenting our venues in huge numbers as soon as the ban comes in.

I do expect that over the ensuing weeks and months, some customers will return and will be pleasantly surprised by what they find. We shouldn’t forget that one of the key elements of frequenting licensed premises is the social side. Whether that is to try and find a partner, or to enjoy a bit of down time with friends, clubs and bars will continue to provide an invaluable role, beyond simply being buildings for people to light up in.

To demonstrate how quickly things change I was struck by the reaction of operators in Scotland at a recent BEDA meeting. One short year on from the smoking ban in Scotland, we asked if they would go back to smoking in their venues. Not one operator would.

At BEDA we acknowledge that trading conditions change very rapidly and we need to stay in-step with the constant changes. It hardly needs us to remind long-standing BEDA members that several years ago we were the British Entertainment and Discotheque Association and back in the mists of time we were the Association of British Ballrooms!

Over the next year or so there will inevitably be some uncertain times ahead for operators and the smoking ban doesn’t make it any less certain. Through it we are certain that the entrepreneurial spirit of the late night sector will emerge ultimately victorious. Thankfully this is something which doesn’t change with the times.

It would be interesting to anticipate at some future date in the next thirty years if some bright spark television exec re-invents the Life on Mars format and sends a copper back to 2007. No doubt viewers will be shaking their heads in disbelief as they remember a time when you could actually smoke in licensed premises.

Words: Paul Smith (Executive Director of BEDA)

From: May 2007 Issue

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